Apparatus for coiling cable in a tank



Jan. 3, 1967 E. FELICITE APPARATUS FOR COILING CABLE IN A TANK Filed Nov. 18, 1964 United States Patent M s Claims. (Cl. 242-83) This invention relates to improved apparatus for depositing a cable in regular spirals in a cylindrical tank, such cable being delivered either by the machine manufacturing it or from a drum or a spool or any other similar element.

The invention relates more particularly, but not exclusively to apparatus of use for coiling electric cables in generally annular treatment tanks.

Duringsuch an operation the cable must not, of course, be introduced haphazardly because the capacity of the tank would be poorly used and there would be the likelihood of the cable insulation being damaged due to crossings and irregularities in the radius of curvature.

The apparatus according to the invention has as its main object to coil a cable in a tank automatically and uniformly, i.e., in successive layers with continuous turns, so as to avoid any gaps between the turns and the wall of the tank, or any overlapping or crossing.

Another object of the invention is an automatic apparatus which can easily be fitted to any annular tank without the need for any substructure, so that the system formed by the tank and its driving mechanism can be moved as a unit either by a travelling crane or any other means of transport.

According to the present invention, the cable is coiled as required by automatically transmitting to the tank a speed of rotation which allows for the rate of feed of the cable and its coil diameter. The receiving tank is preferably driven by a motor which is electrically coupled by the selsyn method to a generator driven by the element delivering the cable and which drives the tank through a change-speed device controlled by a speed corrector adapted to so act on the change-speed device as to cause the speed of rotation of the tank 'to successively increase and decrease, the direction of change be ing reversed whenever the tank has made the number of revolutions corresponding to the uniform production of layers of turns of respectively decreasing and increasing diameters.

One example of apparatus in accordance with the invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 is a schematic illustration partially in side elevation and partially in vertical section of apparatus in accordance with the invention, and FIGURE 2 is an enlarged schematic illustration of a portion of the mechanism for controlling the speed of rotation of the receiving tanks.

Referring to the drawings, a cable 1 which it is required to coil uniformly in an annular tank 2 is fed in the direction of the arrow 1 by a caterpillar conveyor system 3. The latter is mounted on a stand 27 and is driven by the machine (not shown) making the cable 1, for example, by means of a mechanical drive which is illustrated in the form of a drive shaft 4, gears 5, an intermediate shaft 6, bevel gears 7 and a transmission 8. An electric machine 9 whose function will be defined hereinbelow is driven by the intermediate shaft 6.

The annular tank 2 rests on a rim 10 provided at the periphery of a platform 11 keyed on a hollow vertical shaft 12 adapted to rotate about a fixed shaft or column 13. The bottom end of the latter is rigidly centred in a Patented Jan. 3, 1967 support 14 which rests on the ground and supports the whole of the apparatus. On the upper end of the fixed shaft 13 there is mounted a fixed platform 15 which carries all the elements comprising drive means for rotating the hollow shaft 12 and hence the tank 2. In the example illustrated, these elements comprise an electric motor 16, a changespeed transmission 17, a speed control unit 18 which controls the change'speed device 17 and the arrangement of which will be described hereinafter, bevel gears 19, a worm reduction gear 2% and a gear train 21 the last gearwheel of which is keyed on the hollow shaft 12. As will be seen from FIG. 1 of the drawings the fixed platform 15 and the drive means carried thereon for rotating the hollow shaft 12 and hence the tank 2 have lesser transverse dimensions than the diameter of the inner wall of the annular tank 2 so that the tank can be positioned on and removed from the movable platform 11 without disturbing tthe drive means.

The electric machines 9 and 16 are of the induction type and comprise wound rotors with slip rings. They are respectively fed with a three-phase voltage via cables 22 and 23, for example, and their secondary induced circuits are interconnected by a polyphase cable 24. Machines coupled in this way of course rotate at the same speed which in this case is the speed provided by the machine 9 which acts as the generator since it is driven with the caterpillar cable feed unit 3 by the machine making or delivering the cable. For an appropriate fixed ratio of the change-speed device 17, therefore, the tank 2, whose shaft 12 is driven by the motor 16, will rotate at a speed proportional to the linear speed of the cable 1 which would be the only condition required for coiling the cable uniformly if its coil radius were constant, i.e., if it were required, for example, to coil the cable in helical turns vertically one above the other on a cylindrical surface.

In practice, however, the cable has to be deposited into the tank and form successive layers of horizontal coils with contiguous turns. Such coiling can be obtained only if the speed of rotation of the tank 2 is adjusted at each instant not only in accordance with the linear speed of the cable on leaving the caterpillar 3 but also in accordance with its varying coil diameter.

This second condition is satisfied by means of the changespeed device 17 whose reduction ratio is controlled by the control unit 18 coupled to the change-speed device through a chain transmission disposed between the gearwheels 25.

The speed control unit 18 comprises spur gears 26 and 28, bevel gears 29 and a mechanism 30 shown in detail in FIGURE 2. This mechanism comprises a heart-shaped cam 31 which is mounted with its center of rotation on the secondary shaft 28a of the speed reducing gears 28. The cam 31 is engaged by a cam follower 32 mounted on one end of a rack 33 which is suitably guided by guides 34A and 34B mounted on the frame. The cam follower 32 on the rack 33 is constantly held in engagement with the cam 31 by means of a counterweight 37 connected to the upper portion of the rack by a cable 36 which runs over two pulleys 35. The rack engages a pinion 3-8 which is mounted on the same shaft .39 as the upper toothed wheel 25 of the chain transmission of which the lower toothed wheel controls the change-speed device 17.

The gears which drive the cam 31 are selected so that the cam makes one half a'turn during the laying of a spiral of cable in the tank. In the position shown in the drawing, the cam 31 provides for example, the maximum speed of the change speed device 17, and this position corresponds to the laying in place of that portion of the spiral of minimum diameter. It will thus be seen that the speed of rotation of the tank is progressively decreased during the laying of a layer of cable in the tank starting at the inner periphery of the tank and is progressively increased during the laying of the next layer starting at the outer periphery of the tank. By reason of the shape and speed of the cam 31, the direction of change, i.e. whether increasing or decreasing, is automatically reversed whenever the number of revoiutions of the tank corresponds to the coiling of one layer of contiguous convolutions of cable in the tank.

Moreover, the variation of speed by the speed-change transmission 17 under control of the speed control mechanism 30 provides a rotational speed of the tank in accordance with the formula where S is the rotational speed of the tank, L is the linear speed at which the cable is fed and R is the radius of the convolution of cable being laid in the tank.

To allow for the fact that this number of revolutions depends on the diameter of the cable, the ratio of the re duction gear of the speed control unit 18 is appropriately adjusted by replacement of the gears 26, which are easily accessible.

Also, the appropriate speed of feeding the cable 1 to the tank 2 can be obtained by suitable choice of the ratio of gears such as 5 for example, which are also easily accessible. It will be apparent that these gears affect the speed of the caterpillar system 3 and the generator 9. In other words, they suitably determine the speed of the cable and the frequency of the current delivered by 9 to determine the appropriate speed of the motor 16.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein described and illustrated in the drawings, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to this embodiment.

What I claim is:

1. Apparatus for coiling a cable spirally in an annular tank having an inner wall and an outer wall, comprising means for feeding cable, a stationary vertical column, means supporting said column, a hollow shaft rotatable about said column, a rotatable platform carried by said hollow shaft and having peripheral portions adapted to support said annular tank, said column extending above said hollow shaft, a stationary platform mounted on said column above said platform, and means on said stationary platform for driving said hollow shaft, rotatable platform and tank at selected speed.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said means for feeding cable comprises a first electric motor and said means for driving said hollow shaft, rotatable platform and tank comprises a second electric motor, and

A} in which said motors are connected by a sel'syn system so as to run in fixed speed relation to one another.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, in which said means i or driving said hollow shaft, rotatable platform and tank comprises means for varying the rotational speed of the tank relative to the linear speed of the cable in accordance with the formula:

where S is the rotational speed of the tank, L is the linear speed of the cable and R is the radius of the convolution of cable being laid in the tank.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, in which said means for varying the rotational speed of said tank comprises means for automatically reversing the direction of variation when the tank has made a number of revolutions corresponding to one layer of contiguous convolutions of the cable in said tank.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, in which said means for varying the rotational speed of said tank in relation to the feed of said cable comprises a speed change transmission, a cam controlling said transmission and speed reducing means for driving said cam in selected timed relation to said tank.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which said cam is a rotary heart-shaped cam which is rotated one half turn when said tank makes the number of revolutions corresponding to the coiling of one layer of contiguous convolutions of cable in said tank.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which said means supporting said vertical column comprises a base adapted to rest on a floor or other supporting surface.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said stationary platform and drive means have lesser transverse dimensions than the diameter of said inner wall of said tank so that said annular tank can be positioned on and removed from said movable platform without disturbing said drive means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,849,195 8/1958 Richardson et al 24283 2,868,474 1/1959 Lewis 242-83 2,981,494 4/1961 Kovaleski 242-83 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,312,322 11/1962 France.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

N. L. MINTZ, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR COILING A CABLE SPIRALLY IN AN ANNULAR TANK HAVING AN INNER WALL AND AN OUTER WALL, COMPRISING MEANS FOR FEEDING CABLE, A STATIONARY VERTICAL COLUMN, MEANS SUPPORTING SAID COLUMN, A HOLLOW SHAFT ROTATABLE ABOUT SAID COLUMN, A ROTATABLE PLATFORM CARRIED BY SAID HOLLOW SHAFT AND HAVING PERIPHERAL PORTIONS ADAPTED TO SUPPORT SAID ANNULAR TANK, SAID COLUMN EXTENDING ABOVE SAID HOLLOW SHAFT, A STATIONARY PLATFORM MOUNTED ON SAID COLUMN ABOVE SAID PLATFORM, AND MEANS ON SAID STATIONARY PLATFORM FOR DRIVING SAID HOLLOW SHAFT, ROTATABLE PLATFORM AND TANK AT SELECTED SPEED. 